A-League Women: Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters hails young midfielders Georgia Cassidy and Charli Wainwright

Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters has hailed young midfielders Georgia Cassidy and Charli Wainwright after his side kept their A-League Women finals hopes alive against Western Sydney Wanderers. Cassidy had not played since late January following a serious quad injury which the club feared threatened her chances of returning this season. But the Young Matilda marked her return on Saturday night, playing 61 minutes before Wainwright replaced her, at which point the first-year midfielder made her mark, winning a series of 50-50 balls and driving her team forward. While it looked like Perth were bound for a draw against a stubborn Wanderers outfit. Izzy Foletta’s injury-time winner allowed Glory to keep the pressure on the top six with three games to go. Peters admitted he had questioned whether Cassidy was ready to start after almost two months out, but he felt vindicated in her performance and labelled her ceiling sky-high. “I was a little bit apprehensive at the start with Cass, but then she comes to training and she’s playing around the corner balls and left-foot diagonals and she’s right-footed, and you just go ‘okay, she’s got to play.’ “She’s quality. Sky’s the limit for that girl, she can do whatever she likes with football if she puts her head down and works hard because she’s an absolute machine. “Technically, tactically, she’s a very smart player. WA has got a very good player on their hands.” Wainwright has been in and out of the starting line-up in her first season as an A-League player, and Peters said her impact against Western Sydney was tremendous. “Someone from the crowd gave it to me — ‘why didn’t you start Wainwright today?’” he said. “Her role was to just basically break play up and just get the ball forward and I don’t think she lost a duel when she came on.” Peters also praised his side for being able to win ugly, and said he was proud of Foletta after he had dropped her to the bench following last week’s 3-3 draw with Central Coast. “We had a fair bit of feedback, a couple of chats during the week, they were fairly robust chats, and she had a bit of a point to prove,” he said. “And I said to her, when she went on, we obviously spoke about what her role was defensively and I said ‘if something falls to you, just give it a go,’ because she’s got a really good shot on her. “A good moment for her, and I’m pleased for her. It hasn’t been a brilliant season for her so I’m pretty stoked for her.” Glory face Canberra United at Sam Kerr Football Centre next Saturday night.